Pressure Point
by mermaidbyheart
Summary: For Alan Harper and Walden Shmidt life as they know it is about to change to a pressure point when they find out they're going to have some new neighbors for the summer. Their friendship will be tested and Walden will find out that for first time in his life he's fallen in love..for real. [Set before season 12.]
1. Chapter 1

**01.  
**

Bored of watching TV with Alan, Walden walked out on his big terrace staring at the ocean.

He still couldn't forget about Vivian and was wondering where she was now and what she must be doing. Then something caught his attention pulling him out of his thoughts.

Down, walking on the beach there was a young, blond woman whose beauty was beyond words. Her hair was loose and curls, softer than silk were falling heavily on her bare shoulders. Eyes as blue as the ocean itself were glowing on her face. Her walk and her slim figure were giving out the feeling of boldness, courage, strength and freedom. That attracted him more than anything else.

She was wearing a dark blue bikini top combined with a sky color shorts that matched the color of her eyes and suited the color of her pale skin. On one of her shoulders was hanging a small red bag. She looked breathtaking and tempting and he couldn't help but stare at her with his mouth open in owe and amusement of her prettiness.

"You'll catch flies."

Walden spun around to see Alan standing right behind him.

"What are you looking at?" He added with a smirk and bent over to look down to the beach to check what Walden was staring at a few moments ago. "Oh, wow, now that's one _hot_ chick down there."

"Shut up." Annoyed Walden walked inside and into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water, but his thoughts were drifting back to the mystery woman from the beach. "_She must be new here_." He thought. "_That's probably the reason I've never seen her before_."

He took a sip and gulped it slowly deep in his thoughts. Putting the glass back down he walked on the terrace again, but there was no trace of her.

He sighed and was about to go inside when he saw her again.

She was walking out of one of the houses in his neighborhood. This time her hair was up in a messy bun and she was wearing a red top and black jeans. She wasn't wearing any make up except lip gloss and she looked breathtaking. Walden couldn't keep his eyes off her. Maybe Jenny was right, maybe he really was falling too quickly, but right now he couldn't care less.

Shocked he noticed she was going straight towards his house and he hurried back inside.

He sat on the couch and took out his phone pretending he was checking it. Not long after he heard a loud knock on his balcony door. He turned to look at that direction and saw her standing there looking a bit impatiently inside the house and staring straight at him. He stood up and hurried to open the door.

"Hello?!" He asked nervously.

"Hi." She answered and he felt lost in the sound of her beautiful voice. Feminine yet somehow deep and velvet it was like a melody from heaven. "Is Dr. Harper here?"

Right then and there Walden couldn't help but feel shocked and confused by her words. This beautiful angelic creature was looking for Alan?!

"Dr. Harper's not at home at the moment." He answered her. "But if you want you can come in and wait for him inside."

"No, I should go. My friends and I are doing some rearranging of the house next door to yours and they're probably waiting for me.

"Oh." Was all Walden could say.

"That's actually the reason I'm looking for Dr. Harper. One of my friends was moving something quite heavy that really did a number on his back and now he's got a screaming need of chiropractor."

"I understand." He nodded. "I promise to tell him that as soon as he gets back."

Her lips twitched in a smile that stunned him and could light up the whole room. Actually Walden was sure that her smile could put even the sun itself to shame. "Thanks."

And she turned to walk away.

"Are you sure you don't need any help with the rearranging? I can give you and your friends a hand if you want." He couldn't help but say.

"I don't want to bother you."

"It's no bother at all. It'll be pleasure to help such a beautiful girl."

The lightest shade of red ran through her cheeks as she gave him a small smile again. "Thank you…"

"Walden." He helped her. "My name's Walden." And he stretched his hand to her.

"Rikki." She said and took his arm shaking it.

"Well, shell we go now?" He asked giving her a small smile too.

"Yeah." She nodded and the two went out the door.

* * *

**a/n:** _I hope you enjoyed that chapter and I'm sorry it's so short. The next one will be longer I promise! R&amp;R! Best wishes to all! xX_


	2. Chapter 2

**02.**

Walden followed Rikki to the house next door. When she opened the door he was amazed to find how much this house was similar to his.

"Nice place." He smiled to Rikki, walking in after her.

"Thanks." She smiled back.

They walked in the living room, where there were three girls and four boys. The girls were rearranging the room with the three boys' help. The fourth boy was sitting on the couch and one of his hands was on his back, but when Rikki and Walden came in, he stood up in a flash.

"Walden, these are my friends Claire, Phoebe and Indiana." Rikki waited while he shook hands with them. "And these are their boyfriends Ash, Angus and Luke, and..." Rikki paused for a second, "our friend Zane who actually is the reason I was looking for Dr. Harper."

When Walden shook hands with Zane, he felt the other man was a bit tense and tempted.

"Guys, this is Walden, who lives with Dr Harper at the house next door and was kind enough to offer his help."

Everyone except Zane smiled at Walden who responded with a smile too.

"So what can I help you with?"

"Why don't you take this boxes and move them in the room upstairs for a start?!" Rikki said, pointing to the boxes laying on the floor.

"Sure." Walden reached and lifted them easily.

"Wow, you're stronger than Zane here, who hurt his back trying to lifted the exact same boxes." Rikki gave out a small laugh.

Zane frowned, but Walden grinned to her. "They're not that heavy."

"I didn't prepare to lift them, that's why I hurt my back." Zane said defensively.

Walden hid his smile and hurried to take the boxes where Rikki had asked him to.

The rest of the day they spent in repairing the house and carrying stuff up and down the stairs.

"Finally, done." Phoebe groaned exhaustively about five hours later. "I don't feel my arms anymore."

"Tell me about it." Claire nodded.

"Why don't we go to the beach?" Indiana asked, walking in the room. "I could use a tip in the cold, fresh ocean water."

"Sounds great." Rikki nodded walking out of the bathroom. "Care to join us?" She turned to Walden.

"Sure, why not." He nodded quickly.

Walden spent the evening on the beach with Rikki and her friends, and had a great time.

When he walked inside his house there was a big smile plastered on his face.

"What made you so stupidly happy?"

He lifted his eyes to see Alan sitting on the couch and looking at him, ignoring the working TV.

"Nothing." Walden shook his head. "By the way someone was looking for you today."

"Oh?!" Alan lifted his eyebrows and wondering if he should get excited about the news.

"The girl who lives next door. One of her friends had hurt his back and needs a chiropractor."

"Male or female?"

"Does it matter?"

"Just answer."

"Male."

"Should've guessed." Alan sighed annoyed, turning the TV off and walking out of the room.

* * *

**a/n:** _I'm so sorry for not updating earlier, but more than two weeks I suffered from severe stomach problems. :( Fortunately, I'm ok already. :) Unfortunately it's the end of the uni year and my exams are coming up. However, I'll try to update as regularily as I can! I hope you have enjoyed the new chapter! R&amp;R to tell me your opinion! :-)_


	3. Chapter 3

**03.**

Walden was standing on the balcony, the morning breeze gently fondling his face. He was up awful early, but he wouldn't be able to get more sleep, even if he wanted to. That's when a sound of a door being shut caught his attention and he saw a figure running out of the house next door; it was Rikki. She was wearing a black sport shorts, a sports top in the color of aquamarine and her heavy curls were up in a messy bun. She went to the beach to start with her morning jogging and Walden found himself staring at her.

"Walden." He heard Alan calling his name. "Walden, you have a visitor."

Walden gave out a sigh and shooting Rikki one last look, he walked inside and into the kitchen only to find Alan talking to someone he didn't expected to see again.

"Zoey?"

"Hello, Walden."

"What are you doing here?"

"I missed you." She said simply. "So did my daughter."

"Look, Zoey, I carried on and you should do it too."

"I tried. It didn't work. I miss you too much."

"Look, I'm sorry to say it, but that's not my problem. I missed you too, but it was long time ago. Like I said, I've carried on."

Zoey felt sad.

"You've changed, Walden."

"Yeah, I really have."

And he didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She had hurt him enough already, just like Bridget did.

He walked to the door and held it open for her.

"Goodbye, Zoey."

She trembled, her eyes filling with wetness while she walked to the door.

"Goodbye, Walden."

She whispered and walked out, Walden closing the door after her.

He didn't know why he had acted so reserved towards her, but for first time ever in his life, he had control over the situation and it felt good.

He walked back out on the terrace and immediately spotted Rikki on the beach again. She had stopped jogging and was now removing her clothes. Walden thought she'd leave at least her underwear on, but she didn't stop there. He held his breath in his throat watching her remove the last piece of cloth off her body; she had the most beautiful body he had ever seen. Being now completely naked, she ran to the water and gracefully jumped in.

Walden found himself staring after her. He realized he shouldn't have witnessed what he just did, but he couldn't bring back the time now. He walked inside, because he didn't want to repeat his mistake, he respected women's privacy after all; he knew that when she walks out she'd be naked again and he didn't want to witness it again, because this time it wouldn't have been by accident and he just wasn't that type of a guy.

"Well? What did she want?"

Walden turned to Alan confused.

"Huh?"

"Zoey. What did she want?"

"Oh, nothing. She wanted to tell me she had missed me."

"Oh. And what did you do?"

"I reminded her between us is over and told her to go."

Alan looked at him with sympathy.

"If you're sure that you've done the right thing then only that matters now."

Walden sighed.

"I don't know, Alan. I'm not sure of anything lately."

"It's just the shock of her sudden appearance talking right now."

"I can't believe I'm going to say this,but I think you're right." Walden nodded.

"I also have to be right sometimes, don't I?!" Alan gave him a smile.

Suddenly something clicked in Walden's thoughts.

"What happened with that guy next door that needed a chiropractor? Did you fixed his back?"

"Yup. And I met all his friends. They're really nice people. Especially that Rikki girl, y'know."

"Yeah, well..what?!" Suddenly Walden was staring at him wide-eyed.

"Rikki. She's a really nice pal, don't you think? Smart, beautiful, funny."

"Yeah..she is." Walden nodded slowly.

Was Alan falling for Rikki?!

That's when they heard the doorbell ring again.

"I think I made it pretty clear that I don't-" Walden began, but suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.

He found himself face to face not with Zoey, but with Rikki. Her hair was visibly wet, but was up in a tight tail and she look really beautiful.

"Bad timing?" Rikki raised her eyebrows.

"No." Walden said immediately. "Not at all. I just thought you were someone else. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." Rikki waved her hand. "I'm sorry for the early hour, but I thought I'd come over and invite you and Dr. Harper to a picnic with me and my friends."

"A picnic?" Walden couldn't help the smile that came up on his face. "Sounds tempting, but we don't want to be a bother.."

"You won't be a bother at all."

"Ok, well..we'll be there then." Walden smiled.

"Cool. Meet us at 11:30 down the beach." Rikki told him, checking her watch.

"Will do." He nodded.

"See you later, then." Rikki waved and walked away.

Walden closed the door.

"Who was it? And what are you smirking for?"

He lifted his head to look at Alan.

"It was Rikki, she came by to invite us over for a picnic with her and her friends."

"A picnic? And when is it going to be?" Alan raised his eyebrows.

Walden checked his watch.

"Two hours from now."

"But I don't know if I've got anything to wear." Alan exclaimed.

Walden rolled his eyes, heading to the front door.

"Where are you going?" Alan asked him.

"Out. I need to buy some things." And he marched out of the house.

Alan ran to his room, to search for something suitable to wear for the picnic.

It was going to be a long day for everyone.


End file.
